The city's efforts to force the owner to maintain the building — including fines, inspections, evacuation notices and legal action — have gone nowhere.

The properties, which are heritage greystones built in the early 1900s, are now boarded up. Construction work had started, but has been stalled indefinitely after the owner and the city drew up two different engineering options to rebuild.

The ruined balcony on one of the de l'Esplanade Avenue properties. (CBC)

The aftermath of a fire on Roy Street

A five-alarm fire tore through a building housing both apartments and a dépanneur at the corner of Roy Street and Laval Avenue forced and families from their homes in 2015.

If firefighters don't call for the immediate demolition of a building they deem unsafe, then tearing it down can take months. The building now sits empty and dilapidated after the former owner quickly sold it following the fire.

Delays replacing the ruined structure have left neighbours coping with squatters, mould and vermin.

This closeup shows more of the fire damage, including missing brick and exposed insulation where an upper-floor balcony used to be. (CBC)